#cirque-du-spoon

[drferox]

Came for the Brachycephalic Airway posts, stayed for everything really. You run a fantastic blog. I was wondering if you could provide some reliable information about Stomatitis in cats. One of our cats was diagnosed at 6 months old during neutering, our vet seemed clueless about the condition, but it seemed to clear up with dietary changes and tooth brushing. He's 4 now and it's back even worse. Our vet doesn't seem to know why, should I seek a specialist?

Stomatitis is a non-specific term meaning inflammation of the mouth, and there are lots of things that can cause it to various extents. In cats this includes but is not limited to:

trauma (chewing pointy or caustic things)

Renal failure (uremia)

Immune mediated disease

Respiratory viruses

Immune system suppressing viruses

infection in the mouth (tooth root abscesses, gingivitis)

severe peridontitis

osteomyelitis

certain toxins

So there’s a bit of a list for why your cat might have stomatitis. Renal failure requires blood tests to detect, but then to figure it out you’re left working down the list with one test after another. You can’t be certain why a cat has stomatitis until you’ve ruled everything out, which may ultimately include biopsy of the gums.

It might be that a lower antigen load in the mouth has reduced symptoms, but I can only speculate. Some cats end up being treated with long term steroids, and some end up having all their teeth extracted to fix teh problem.

You’re certainly entitled to seek the advice of a specialist, but if it was me I’d rule out some of the cheaper to test things in general practice before I went to a specialist.

[elsewhereuniversity]

I was reading through the posts, thinking about smiths with metal in their eyes, and glasses for seeing fae. What about silver impregnated contacts, made by the ophthalmologist and the physicist, using silver nanoparticles. No one knows if silver nanoparticles are safe, a pre-med student says they'll turn your skin blue if you wear them too long but their freind said they're great for conjunctivitis, and besides, no one can bare to See all the time.

Like jewellery and glasses frames, the Sight given by silver comes from physical contact rather than looking through it. Nevertheless, the idea crops up every few years and experiences a brief burst of popularity.